Two harbor seals lounge on icebergs safe from predators in Tracy Arm fjord in Southeast Alaska.

April Orcutt

If you’re going to Alaska, experience Alaska.

Most first-time visitors start with a cruise, but if you’re going to the Inside Passage in Southeast, Alaska’s glacier-, fjord- and island-rich panhandle, I suggest traveling on a small ship, where you can more closely see the three sights most people want to see: a bear, a whale and a glacier calving chunks of ice.

I wanted to see those things on an intimate level — from a small ship and a small lodge. My decision to go with Alaskan Dream Cruises worked out well.

Unexpected bear encounters

While we were on a day trip, a female grizzly bear and her cub sauntered across our path about 100 feet ahead. In the Alaskan backcountry, the normal distance to stay away from a brown bear, the Alaskan term for grizzly, is at least a quarter-mile — or 13 times as far as we were from this powerful bear. For a mom with a cub, stay even farther away.

The dark-brown sow stopped and turned to stare at our bunched-up group of eight led by a ranger. My heart pounded. The bear-mom walked a few feet to the sandy bank along the creek. She peered at us again. Then she plopped down on her tummy on the sloping beach. She stretched her front legs out in front of her and her back legs straight out behind her. I could see the pads on the bottom of her feet. Her cub struck the same pose next to her. These grizzlies looked like two hirsute sunbathers settling in for an afternoon at the shore.

Make no mistake, though: The nine grizzlies I watched that day splashing and pouncing on salmon were indeed wild brown bears in the well-named Kootznoowoo — Tlingit for “Fortress of the Bears” — Wilderness.

The island is home to about 1,600 brown bears, and human interlopers are limited. Since the 1930s, Pack Creek on million-acre Admiralty Island National Monument has had a human and brown bear detente because of strict rules for human activity, including: carry no food or odorous items, walk in tight groups of three to 12, stay on the trail and don’t use raspberry-scented shampoo.

The lodge and more animals

After arriving in Juneau two days before, I met my fellow tour passengers and traveled south on a high-speed catamaran alongside half a dozen humpback whales spouting and waving their flukes. Sixty-five miles later, in the Chuck River Wilderness, we docked at Windham Bay Lodge, the only settlement on 6-mile-long Windham Bay.

I expected rustic local grub, but while salmon, Dungeness crab and blueberries were local, the on-site chef added outside fare to create a variety of gourmet cooked-to-order dishes.

The next morning, staff members led guests on a kayak excursion. Hugging the bay’s shoreline, we saw blood-red sea stars and translucent moon jellyfish by the score. Bald eagles swooped overhead while a pod of sea lions swam nearby. Just 6 feet away, an adorable little mink scampered under a pile of logs.

Shore-to-ship

A couple days later, we changed from lodge to ship when the 104-foot-long Alaskan Dream, which sleeps 42 passengers, picked us up.

After cruising 10 miles south to Hobart Bay, an area with even fewer buildings, we docked, got on covered ATVs and explored along a narrow dirt road. We examined colorful mossy bogs called muskegs, collected blueberries and found a wolf print in the sand.

Face-to-glacier-face

Another day, we cruised back in time through Tracy Arm, a 30-mile-long, three-quarter-mile-wide glacier-carved fjord with sheer walls rising 3,000 to 4,000 feet above this “arm” of the Inside Passage.

Guide Holly Keen said that at the entrance to the fjord we saw mature forests because the glaciers retreated from here centuries ago. The size and variety of hemlocks, spruce, dwarf trees, Indian paintbrush wildflowers, moss and lichen along the shore diminished as we approached remnants of the ice age: two glaciers at the ends of Tracy Arm.

After navigating the last bend, we confronted the face of the South Sawyer tidewater glacier, a cobalt-and-white wave literally frozen as it flows down the mountain. Dark dots on the icebergs at the base of the glacier were actually resting harbor seals.

A woman standing behind me said to her companion, “Oh, we’ve seen humpback whales and grizzly bears — if only we saw the glacier calve, our trip would be perfect.” Within two minutes, the glacier calved.

April Orcutt is a California writer who loves the outdoors and Alaska.

When you go

Small-ship cruises

Sitka-based Alaskan Dream Cruises (1-855-747-8100 or 907-747-8100; alaskandreamcruises.com) runs eight- to 13-day trips on three 42- to 66-passenger ships that, unlike big cruise ships, can get close to glaciers and napping harbor seals.

Where to stay

Windham Bay Lodge (1-855-747-8100 or 907-747-8100): Alaska Dream Cruises runs Windham Bay Lodge and includes stays at the lodge on some of its cruises. The Pack Creek excursion has been changed to a full-day excursion on grizzly-rich Admiralty Island for “bear viewing and a wildlife safari.”

If you spend the night in Juneau before the cruise, the historic Westmark Baranof Hotel (1-800-544-0970 or 907-586-2660; westmarkhotels.com/juneau.php) is centrally located downtown and within walking distance of eateries and museums.

What to do

On the small-boat cruises you’ll have time to kayak, ride water runabouts, bird-watch, fish, hike, walk and relax. Some tours have a particular focus, such as photography or food and wine.

More information

What to wear: Southeast Alaska is a temperate rain forest. Read: RAIN forest. Bring good rain gear and boots. Alaskan Dream Cruises supplies rain jackets, rain pants and rubber boots, but it’s nicer to have your own that fit properly. Bring cozy fleece clothing that you can layer — you don’t want to miss seeing animals because you stay indoors. Just assume it will rain; you’ll be ecstatic when you get sunny days. Before the trip I asked an Alaskan woman if I should bring a dress. She said, “What’s a ‘dress?’”